“Your friends are all your age,” Chester said. “I’d be the old man among you.”
I snorted. “Being in your thirties isn’t old.”
“Tell that to my knees,” Chester muttered darkly.
I hefted the bucket over to my station, waggling my brows at my boss. “If age is the issue, why don’t you go out with Finlay?”
As I’d expected, Chester’s cheeks flushed. “Finn is a customer, Reid. Let’s keep it professional.”
I snorted, but didn’t say anything.Professional.Sure. That was what Chester wanted with him. That was why he blushed and stammered around the other man, insisting on serving him himself.
Chester totally had a crush on Finn. I couldn’t blame him—the dude was hot as fuck. I’d even flirted with him a little before I’d realised Chester was into him.
Given the hungry way Finlay had watched Chester, the feeling was entirely mutual.
I might’ve flirted with Finn, but I never would’ve taken it further. Not when I knew exactly what and who he was.
Finlay was a wolf shifter. The leader of the McCarthy Clan. It was the main reason I’d chosen this town to settle in. It wasn’t the most hip place, but it was the safest…for me, at least.
Thanks to a treaty that had been signed after my former family did the unthinkable, none of the Clarkson Clan could cross the borders of the McCarthy lands if they intended on inciting or participating in violence.
That in itself would’ve been enough to protect me. None of those fuckers did anything outside of clan lands unless it involved hurting others in some way. But there was another part to the treaty that had had me putting down roots.
The Clarkson Clan were banned from taking anyone from the McCarthy lands, shifter or human.Which meant,so long as I stayed within the borders, I was safe. They couldn’t drag me back there without inciting the wrath of the McCarthys. Not that they’d probably want to. I imagined Da would’ve popped a bottle of champagne the night I’d run away. I was nothing more than a stain on his bloodline.A blight he regretted not drowning the day I was born.
Hearing that every day had got wearing. I’d hoped maybe I’d become immune to the words, the same way I had the punches. Or that maybe he’d start ignoring me the way Ma did, but neither of those things had happened. Even now, his cruel taunts haunted me, ringing in my ears at the oddest times.
So, no, I wouldn’t have pursued Finn. Shifters and I didn’t mix. I was too weak. Too pitiful. More than that, clan life wasn’t something I ever wanted to return to. And why would I? Being at the beck and call of everyone else. Pretending not to hear the derogatory slurs they’d throw in my direction. Reminded constantly about my place in the pack.
It was at the very bottom. Just in case there was any confusion. Even the chickens they kept were treated better than I was.
I wouldn’t touch a shifter male with a barge pole. Every single one I’d come across had failed me in one way or another. Seeing Finlay in the shop was a reminder of the biggest failure. The shattering of a childish dream that maybe I’d be saved.
A foolish fucking dream, born of the innocence and hope of youth.
I’d heard wolf shifters were more protective than jaguars. That, like me, they couldn’t walk away from someone who was hurting. Who needed to be kept safe.
All of that had been wrong. Well, where Evan wasconcerned, at least. Finn’s reputation suggested he actually lived up to the standards wolf shifters were meant to abide by. Chester couldn’t have hoped for a better male to be interested in him than the leader of the McCarthy Clan.
Seeing Finlay in the shop had been a surprise, but not a big one. I’d known I’d cross paths with a shifter or two at some point. So long as I kept my mouth shut, they’d have no idea that I was privy to their world.
Unfortunately, keeping my mouth shut had never been my forte. As soon as I’d realised that Finn was interested in Chester, I hadn’t been able to help myself. I’d appealed to his supposed protective nature, asking him to look out for my boss.
That was when it had slipped out.
“That’s what I’m asking you for, Finn. Keep showing up. Let Chester get to know you. Show him that he can trust you. That you can keep him safe.”
Finn’s eyes narrowed. “What makes ye think those things are true?”
I hadn’t been able to stop myself. “Because I know who you are, Finlay McCarthy, leader of the McCarthy Clan.”
I shouldn’t have said it. I knew that. It’d just invite unwanted attention from the clan. They wouldn’t like that there was a human walking around with knowledge he wasn’t supposed to have. I didn’t doubt that Finn would be back at some point, demanding answers.
Or maybe just to compel me. To make me forget supes existed. Part of me hoped that was what would happen. To not remember what I went through would be a blessing.
But it’d also be a curse. Without the memories, I might be tempted to leave the safety of the McCarthy borders. I might wander too close to the Clarkson lands and find myself back under my father’s thumb once again.He’d probably celebrated my leaving before realising just how much I did for the clan.
I was basically Cinderella, just without a prince on the horizon, waiting to save me.
